Pussycat

Pussycat is a semantically-enabled ontology browser and visualisation tool, built as part of the ComparaGRID project. Its main application is to aid biologists in the comparative mapping of genetic and physical map constructs that are built, queried, and realised using Semantic Web Technology.

Harnessing the ComparaGRID Application Ontology (AO), Pussycat is able to query exposed underlying ComparaGRID datasources in an intuitive fashion using a web browser (see Notes below). This allows scientists working in the field of comparative genomics to build up knowledge bases of their desired domains of interest and query them using computationally specific but human-readable interfaces.

Alongside an ontology browser, whereby users can traverse concepts and properties and form queries at this level, Pussycat uses the Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) technology to present graphical information, which is, at this stage, comparative mapping data. Genetic and physical maps can be built and integrated on the semantic level, allowing computer-readable information stored in databases to be manifested and federated using human-readable ontological query fragments as input.

Bear in mind that this is alpha level software and is not part of any official release. Pussycat is usually updated daily with bug fixes and improvements, and as such, no explanatory documentation exists as yet. However, feel free to click around and try it out, and check back soon as tutorials and demos will be available in the future.

Click here to use the Pussycat demo software.

Notes

Please be aware that Pussycat will only run on W3C-compliant Gecko-based browser, such as Firefox (recommended), Opera and Safari. These browsers have SVG support built in to their rendering engines, and this is necessary for Pussycat to function correctly.